Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Pocket Meadow Farm

I'm at home again...and although much of the adventures from this trip were family related and perhaps not blog-public, I had several fibery experiences to share. (what's a road trip without the yarn shop stops, I ask you?!)

My parents have a vacation place near Berkeley Springs, West Virginia. It's where George Washington came to "take the baths." It is also, luckily, the location of a great new fiber shop. We dropped in to visit Ellen, the owner of Pocket Meadow Farm. We shopped and visited. It was a highlight of our trip!

You know a farm shop is a good place when the chickens are the welcoming committee. Here, one of the chickens is taking a dust bath in a flower pot, which foils Ellen's earnest flower gardening efforts--but offers visitors a really funny show!Next, I checked out the freshly shorn Leicester Longwool fleeces on the porch. Ahh, a true sign that there was good stuff inside...Ellen's a graphic artist and it is obvious when you see her shop that she has a great eye for design, color, and style. Her yarn choices are super--more on that in another post, or check out her website if you can't wait! I am especially impressed with the small runs of local fibers and hand-dyed yarns. Call now if you want locally raised Cormo yarn, Alpaca and Merino (beautiful!) yarn, or hand-dyed sock yarns or roving. Scruptious stuff...and there's not a lot of it!Not a big weaver, spinner, knitter, crocheter, or felter? (What's wrong with you, huh?) Ellen used to do art glass, and has several window sized stained glass pieces for sale. I am dreaming of a home where I can hang one of these in the window, they are just perfect pieces of art, in my opinion.

Just before it rained, we wandered out to meet Pocket Meadow Farm's 4 Leicester Longwool sheep and two Angora Goats. Leicester Longwools are a rare breed, with lovely luster and long locks. These sheep had just been shorn...and they wandered right up to get some pets and attention as we visited with them!

More trip related posts will be coming soon...I'm doing the "first day home" necessities today...Baking bread, answering email, getting Harry and Sally from the kennel, and gosh, I can't wait. It's good to be home.

About Me

Joanne Seiff enjoys making things from scratch; she's been knitting since she was four or five and spinning since she was 12. Joanne is a writer, knitwear designer and educator. She's often walking Sally (her bird dog), spinning, knitting, gardening, cooking, and spending time outdoors with her twins and Jeff, her absent-minded biology professor husband, who studies butterfly genetics.